Catcher In The Rye Mental Illness
Ever wonder why in the Catcher in the Rye, by J.D Salinger, why Holden just seems to hate everything and not enjoy himself? There is a good reason for it, and it is this single thing which causes him so much pain. PTSD is a mental disorder that is caused by a traumatic event that leaves the victim to be triggered by things or events which remind them of their experience. It also affects thousands of people across the globe, it has many symptoms that range from angry outbursts to symptoms of depression. Although Holden may show signs of depression throughout the Catcher in the Rye, Holden’s other symptoms lead to him most likely be suffering from PTSD. Holden’s re-experiencing behavior shows that he has PTSD and not depression. One example
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Generally throughout the story Holden seems to label almost every person that he confronts is a phony. This sort of thinking is a symptom of PTSD where someone will have negative thoughts about himself or the world. Holden also shows signs of cognitive thoughts because after Allie died he seemed to not put any sort of effort in school, or in anything of that matter. In this category of PTSD is also a symptom of depression because depression can be a part of PTSD, but Holden most likely is reluctant to try in school because of the loss of Allie which would fall under PTSD. In Holden’s conversation with Mr. Spencer, he shows cognition because Holden specifically at one point drifts off mid conversation and says, “I was the goddam manager for the fencing team. Very big deal. We'd gone in to New York that morning for this fencing meet with McBurney School. Only, we didn't have the meet. I left all the foils and equipment and stuff on the goddam subway. It wasn't all my fault. I had to keep getting up to look at this map, so we'd know where to get off. ...The whole team ostracized me the whole way back on the train”(3). Here Holden is self loathing himself for something that really is not a big deal and while this might not of been a traumatic event, Holden could have felt this anger of himself from an event that had happened to him. This can fall under
Generally throughout the story Holden seems to label almost every person that he confronts is a phony. This sort of thinking is a symptom of PTSD where someone will have negative thoughts about himself or the world. Holden also shows signs of cognitive thoughts because after Allie died he seemed to not put any sort of effort in school, or in anything of that matter. In this category of PTSD is also a symptom of depression because depression can be a part of PTSD, but Holden most likely is reluctant to try in school because of the loss of Allie which would fall under PTSD. In Holden’s conversation with Mr. Spencer, he shows cognition because Holden specifically at one point drifts off mid conversation and says, “I was the goddam manager for the fencing team. Very big deal. We'd gone in to New York that morning for this fencing meet with McBurney School. Only, we didn't have the meet. I left all the foils and equipment and stuff on the goddam subway. It wasn't all my fault. I had to keep getting up to look at this map, so we'd know where to get off. ...The whole team ostracized me the whole way back on the train”(3). Here Holden is self loathing himself for something that really is not a big deal and while this might not of been a traumatic event, Holden could have felt this anger of himself from an event that had happened to him. This can fall under